bardsongfandomcom-20200215-history
Korvis
Twenty-five years to the day after its founding, Kærn Kronus disappeared without a trace. Its people and its High King went with it, and for over five hundred years, the disappearance of the entire kærn was the greatest mystery on Ceilar. During the cataclysmic Worldquake, it reappeared without explanation, just as suddenly as it had vanished. From the perspective of the residents of the kærn, one year had passed. It had been a year trapped in another realm, a hell-scape under constant siege from demonic forces just beyond the wall. Kronus' wisdom in maintaining a reserve and the strength of his knights and warriors were all that had kept the citizenry safe in a nightmare world of burning rain and distant howls that chilled the bone. But for all his heroism, the High King had suffered for his time away. The perceived failure of his goddess to answer his demands and return his city to its rightful place was compounded by the sudden arrival of an avatar of the young goddess Catira, who promised the king both the identity of the being that abducted his city and a glorious return to Kæryn in exchange for his worship. Desperate and without other avenues, Kronus swore himself to the Lady of Vengeance. The goddess revealed to the King that it was the goddess Arwin herself who had banished him from his kingdom in an attempt to teach him humility, and that his lieutenant Kel had claimed his throne in her name during his absence. He spoke an oath against both of those who had wronged him, promising to his new goddess that he would have his vengeance if she would simply return him to his kingdom. Little did Kronus know, however, that the young deity had traveled backwards in time to recruit him, and that she only had to power to return him to the world after the Second Dragon War and her own ascension to godhood. And so, upon returning, Kronus soon found that he was long robbed of his vengeance against Kel, and that his kingdom had relegated their once High King to the stuff of legend. Kronus struck out first by moving against Kærn Kinder, which sat just to the east across Lake Kharas. He then drove north to conquer the nearby town of New Sear in southern Seawn to protect his forces from Searian interference from behind the lines of his war for vengeance. Looking east across the mountains, he soon found allies in the Ancelyn, and turned his eyes west towards his old kingdom. The War of Vengeance was long and hard-fought, but ultimately Kronus was defeated. He sued for peace, declaring the independence of his new kingdom and biding his time for a better opportunity to seek his vengeance. He renamed his kærns as kantrevs, from the Old Searian word for "castle," and solidified his power base in east-central Ceilar. He would war against Kæryn again, eventually costing him his life, but his new kingdom would survive him. The lands of Korvis (KOHR vis) extend from Kantrev Killar to the north to the northern reaches of Lake Kharas and into the western hills bordering the Bay of Sear. While its rulership continues to worship Catira and Caradoc, the majority of its citizenry are not an evil people, but likewise not a particularly good one. They do, however, have a great respect for the law of their lands. Geographically the smallest of the human kingdoms on Ceilar, Korvis is primarily a land of forests, mountains, and water, with a region of plains to the west. It has few enemies within its borders, having subsumed or enslaved the majority of the ogres and orcs of the mountains and cleared the Sidh from the Elmwatch Forest. Korvis' greatest enemies from within are its own noble houses, which are constantly engaging in secret little wars to gain power and favor in the eyes of the king. In addition to humans, some dwarves, and a very few members of the other allied races, Korvis is also the birthplace of the tiefling race. It is by the proclamation of Dukaid I, Kronus's own son, that the creatures were first allowed to live, and they now have become a regular -- if somewhat unnerving -- sight in the kantrevs of Korvis, many rising to positions of authority within the kingdom's hierarchy until almost the entire nation is influenced by them, if not entirely under their control. Recently, however, it has been revealed the Dukaid is, in fact, a half-fiend or cambon, born of a dark union between Kronus I and a succubus that he had knowingly taken as his queen. It is his influence, and in some cases his actual breeding, that resulted in the birth of this new tiefling race. This discovery has cause agreat deal of civil unrest, resulting in Dukaid having to maintain his stalemate with Kæryn while trying to prevent a rebellion within his own borders.Category:Locations Category:Gazeteer